The Globalization of Ethics: Religious and Secular Perspectives

Sullivan and Kymlicka seek to provide an alternative to post-9/11 pessimism about the ability of serious ethical dialogue to resolve disagreements and conflict across national, religious, and cultural differences. It begins by acknowledging the gravity of the problem: on our tightly interconnected planet, entire populations look for moral guidance to a variety of religious and cultural traditions, and these often stiffen, rather than soften, opposing moral perceptions. How, then, to set minimal standards for the treatment of persons while developing moral bases for coexistence and cooperation across different ethical traditions? The Globalization of Ethics argues for a tempered optimism in approaching these questions. Its distinguished contributors report on some of the most globally influential traditions of ethical thought in order to identify the resources within each tradition for working toward consensus and accommodation among the ethical traditions that shape the contemporary world.

• Clear presentations by distinguished scholars of some of the major traditions of ethical thinking • Various traditions are brought into dialogue by a common focus on how universal moral standards such as human rights are to be defined • Discussions are framed within a broad philosophical and historical context

1. Introduction: the globalization of ethics Will Kymlicka; 2. Global ethics and the international law tradition Daniel Philpott; 3. Morality and universality in Jewish thought Michael Walzer; 4. Globalization in Christian ethics Max L. Stackhouse; 5. Buddhism and the globalization of ethics Peter Nosco; 6. Muslim perspectives on global ethics Muhammad Khalid Masud; 7. Confucianism: ethical uniformity and diversity Richard Madsen; 8. Natural law, common morality, and particularity Mark C. Murphy; 9. Liberalism and the globalization of ethics Chris Brown; 10. Feminist perspectives on a planetary ethic Kimberley Hutchings; 11. Ethical universalism and particularism: a comparison of outlooks William M. Sullivan.